Help! Pusher-prop Versa wing..
- Thread starter Andrew W
- Start date
Grab it by the leading edge close to a wingtip with your dominant hand, set throttle to around 50%, then toss the plane doing you best to keep the wing level. I like to toss it upwards a bit, 20 degrees or so good for a versa.
Watch the FT arrow video and do like they do.
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If you can, ask someone else to help hand launch it, and have them throw it up backwards over their head. I've tried a discus throw, only to have it arc across my body and bite the dust on the side of the runway about 15-20' out as I'm trying to get control.
Looks like ElectriSean's vid demonstrates the method I like in the 2nd method, and it works pretty well. Even worked great when I launched my F-27 Retaliator.
Looks like ElectriSean's vid demonstrates the method I like in the 2nd method, and it works pretty well. Even worked great when I launched my F-27 Retaliator.
Hai-Lee
Old and Bold RC PILOT
Launching any model can be fraught with problems. For some people it seems that they are less than co-ordinated and can soon become discouraged so much that they avoid hand launched models.
Also often you are required to hand launch that new prototype and what the plane will do on launch is totally unknown to you.
At our club I was one of only a few that flew hand launched models but now it seems that everyone is buying and building them.
Rather than trying to learn yet another technique we now use a different and very reliable technique which can be used by anyone of any age as long as they can hold a controller.
See the following thread, https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/the-best-20-i-invested.53587/
Our club now has 6 of them!
Have fun!
Also often you are required to hand launch that new prototype and what the plane will do on launch is totally unknown to you.
At our club I was one of only a few that flew hand launched models but now it seems that everyone is buying and building them.
Rather than trying to learn yet another technique we now use a different and very reliable technique which can be used by anyone of any age as long as they can hold a controller.
See the following thread, https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/the-best-20-i-invested.53587/
Our club now has 6 of them!
Have fun!
I usually throw from the wing like Alex and Josh showed in those videos but somtimes I'll take off right from the ground. Of course this is using brute motor force and not the aircraft wing to generate life. You can do this if the winglets will balance the plane or in winter time snow can prop it up fine as well.
I'm thinking about making a catapult of some sort, just to get it into the air a bit - I saw a foot plate launcher on HobbyKing, and I think I might be able to make something like it out of PVC and surgical tube, so I can get the wing up off the ground and into the air, and then fire the motor up once it's clear of the launcher...
Hai-Lee
Old and Bold RC PILOT
That is what we do though we designed and made our own foot launcher out of old discarded bed slats.
The catapult launch works so well that with some of the smaller planes they can fly over 200 metres and get to a height of 20 metres on a PVC pipe ramp only 1.5 metres long and a maximum height of 150mm.
Now they are even removing the retracts from their heavy EDF models, (because the small wheels can cause the retracts to bend or be ripped out even on take offs from grassed strips), and launching them perfectly every time.
Have fun!
Thanks everyone for the benefit of all your experiences - great reading! - and hope my Versa will survive a round of several launches to try the different launching methods. The model's not quite finished yet - it's a pusher-Versa and I've given it a balsa nose in order to get it to balance without adding any extra weight. One day I hope to get into FPV.
bracesport
Legendary member
@Andrew W. - how did you get on with the Versa - I have one built ready to fly. 
Just realized this thread is a year old😂. I have a versa I flew twice, and all I need to add another servo to it and fuigure out how to use my swappable power pod with a reverse rotation prop on it. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll use my GoPro to balance it and I’m eager to see the footage it gets!@Andrew W. - how did you get on with the Versa - I have one built ready to fly.
